Water management plan on cards

NAMIBIA will have its own national water management plan soon and experts are hard at work to collect data on this precious and scarce resource.

Namibia is the most arid country in sub-Saharan Africa and its total water demand last year was 327 million cubic metres. This will double to 765 million cubic metres by 2030, water expert Ben van der Merwe said at a workshop on the draft water plan yesterday. Water consumption in Namibia increases along with population growth, he pointed out.’The migration from rural to urban areas will increase over the next years and it is important for towns to maintain and improve on their water infrastructure to reduce losses and leakages, because the majority of water consumers will be in towns,’ Van der Merwe cautioned.Irrigation agriculture actually uses 41 per cent of the country’s total water demand, according to Van der Merwe, while 27 per cent is consumed by livestock.Dr Mary Seely of the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN) gave an overview of the work ahead, which includes consultations with communities in different regions. Next week the team of experts will hold a meeting with the northern communities at Oshakati on Thursday, September 17.